Thanks No Matter What

With Thanksgiving fast approaching, I’ve been thinking about some of the enjoyable  traditions which go along with this national holiday. There’s the food, of course: turkey, stuffing, cranberries, mashed potatoes (or sweet potatoes), green bean casserole, and the ever-delicious pumpkin pie. Then there are the activities, including a morning church service, gatherings of friends and family, televised football games, and triptophan-induced couch comas.

Another great dinner tradition is to go around the table and have everyone share those things for which they are thankful this holiday. During this time, you are likely to hear thanks for the food, family and friends, a new job, recovery from an illness, freedoms, and among Christians, salvation in Jesus Christ. While people in general may be happy and generally thankful for the good things in their life, believers direct their gratefulness to God. It certainly is a good and proper thing to do, and it obeys the many Scriptural admonitions to recognize the source of our blessings and to thank God for them. Just a few of those passages are the following:

1 Chronicles 16:34, “Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; for his steadfast love endures forever!”

Psalm 9:1, “I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart; I will recount all of your wonderful deeds.”

Psalm 100:4, “Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise! Give thanks to him; bless his name!”

Isaiah 12:4, “And you will say in that day: ‘Give thanks to the Lord, call upon his name, make known his deeds among the peoples, proclaim that his name is exalted.'”

Revelation 7:12, “Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen.”

There are so many reasons to be thankful to God, that the dinner may get cold before everyone finishes their list of blessings! Maybe we ought to restrict each person to say just one – or maybe two – points of praise.

Unfortunately, for many across the country this year, that restriction won’t be necessary, because there are so many problems and worries on people’s minds that thankfulness does not seem to be the dominant attitude. The apparent collapse of our society this year due to crime, inflation, shortages, civil unrest (that is, uncivil unrest), political division, border crises, the debacle in Afghanistan, and of course, the Covid pandemic and its effects. My guess us that many people are thinking, “What’s there to be thankful for? Let’s wait till things improve and then throw a big thank-you party!”

But that’s just the opposite of what we should do. Now, I’m not saying we ignore the issues facing all of us (not to mention personal problems any of us struggle with individually), nor am I advocating a Pollyanna approach that looks for the “silver lining” in those troubles. Even if we try to “make lemonade out of life’s lemons” the worries, hurts, disappointments, pains, and heartaches are all too real. No, we treat those problems seriously, and seek to overcome them with prayer, fortitude, and hard work.

And yet, it is precisely because we have those very real problems and dangers in our lives that we need to stop and turn our attention to God and offer him our thanksgiving.

I was struck when I read about Thanksgiving, that throughout our history, this celebration has occurred right after, or even during, times of extreme danger and troubles, rather than during periods of peace and prosperity.

1. The very first Thanksgiving, celebrated by the Pilgrims in October of 1621  (400 years ago this month!), came after the first harvest. But the meal was celebrated by only 57 Pilgrims, the other 45 members of the colony having died the previous winter.
2. In 1777, the Continental Congress called for a day of Thanksgiving to God, not because of victory, but during a time of desperation. They had to meet in York, Pennsylvania, for that declaration, because the British were occupying their usual capital of Philadelphia.
3. Abraham Lincoln declared a day of Thanksgiving in the year of 1863, in the midst of the bloody Civil War, when the fate of the nation (and the freedom of millions of slaves) was at stake.
4. In 1939, while millions of Americans were struggling due to the Great Depression, President Roosevelt declared a national day of Thanksgiving.
5. In 1942, Congress established the federal holiday, even though World War II was raging, with much fighting, bloodshed, and civilian hardships ahead.

As you can see, giving thanks is not contingent on good times. Rather, our attitude should be that of the prophet Jeremiah, who cried over the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple by the Babylonians, yet still could write these profound words: “The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness” (Lamentations 3:22-23). 

But why should we offer thanks to God when we don’t feel like it, when our eyes tell us “the Temple is destroyed.” Isn’t that just going through the motions, insincerity cloaked in religious piety? No; there are very good reasons to offer thanks even when we struggle to do just that.

First, we thank God  because everything we have comes from him. Food, clothing, shelter, health, material goods, family, and friends all are from him. Not to mention our  very lives themselves. All are a gift from God. And even should all those things be lost, including our lives, we still thank God for the greatest of all his gifts, eternal life through Jesus Christ. Scripture says that all good gifts come from our Father above (James 1:17). And Luther taught us that keeping the First Commandment requires us to attribute all our blessings to God and to nothing else (Large Catechism, Part I).

Second, we thank God because he deserves it. He is worthy of all praise and all devotion, even if we received nothing good from him. This is the lesson of Job, who though he lost everything, still held to faith in God, saying, “Though he slay me, I will hope in him” (Job 13:15). I picture the great scene in heaven, when all the saved – even those who lost everything in this life – join in the great chorus of “every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them,” saying, “To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!” (Revelation 5:13).

Third, we thank God because we recognize that he is sovereign, that is, ruler over all. We might not like what we see, but we lack the knowledge or wisdom of God, whose foolishness is greater than man’s greatest wisdom (1 Corinthians 1:25). In other words, we don’t have the whole picture. We can’t see what God is doing behind the scenes to accomplish his purposes, nor do we know his purpose in any specific situation. We have to trust that the One who is ultimately in charge knows what  he is doing. “I’ve got this!’ is what he tells us in his Word. By thanking him, we are trusting him to do what is best. As Abraham told the Lord just before the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, “Shall not the Judge of all the earth do what is just?” (Genesis 18:25).

Fourth, we thank God because he is the One who can actually overcome evil circumstances. Our thankfulness acknowledges our dependence on him, and is part of our prayer for his intervention. The Apostle Paul wrote, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God” (Philippians 4:6). Paul shows us the linkage between a grateful heart and asking God for his blessings. If we have an attitude of entitlement, why should God show his love and power by jumping to obey our demands? True prayer holds thankfulness for past mercies, and the promise of gratitude for God’s mercies still to come.

Fifth, we thank God even in times of trouble because it is a witness to others. When Satan afflicted Job, it was to see whether Job loved God only because God had blessed him so much. But Job did not abandon God when he lost everything, which was a testimony to Satan, and to all of us, that his faith in God was true. So too, when we continue to worship, pray, and thank God during our difficult times, we are showing the world that our faith is sincere and that God is worthy of worship. To unbelievers, giving God thanks blows away any prejudice they may have that our faith is a selfish thing, or that we see God as a magical genie we can summon to grant our wishes. To our fellow believers, our thankfulness during trouble is a strong encouragement for them to hold on when they face difficulties (which they will). Having difficulties is not a witness; how we handle them with God is.

There’s more that can be said, but it’s time to grab the old blunderbuss and go hunting for a turkey. I hope you have a great Thanksgiving, and that you will be blessed when you, too, “give thanks with a grateful heart”*

Now may the Lord bless you and keep you, the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you, the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. Amen.

Read: Job 1; Philippians 4; 1 Thessalonians 5:16-24; Revelation 5

*Give Thanks, by Don Moen, Integrity Music, 1986.